coachjoelle.com

Hi guys,

I know I have been a little quiet the last week or so but I have been very busy sleeping in, watching movies, eating chocolate and enjoying the comforts of my mother’s home and my northern heritage. 

You see, for one week out of every year I head up to Winnipeg, Canada where Coach Joelle goes into hibernation and "Joey" takes her place. “Joey” is what my mom calls me, my sister does as well, and my aunts and uncles and cousins (it also happens to be what they call a baby kangaroo!)  So after a whole week in "Joey"-land, I thought I would get in touch and share some highlights from my week up north.

Highlights of Joey’s northern adventures include:

• My husband asking me over and over again…”how do people live here?” as he learned what I meant when I said that sometimes it is too cold to breath.
• Jeff expanding our holiday traditions by walking us through the lighting of our makeshift menorah and reciting the Chanukah blessing.
• Christmas eve at Autie Karen’s with all the Prochera’s, including my uncle rob and his lovely new girlfriend and full grown cousins that are graduating and going to parties and crazy things like that! The warmth in the room was palpable as we shared our stories, packing into 5 hours the events of a year. 
• Christmas day and the opening of the stockings followed by an ever growing gift-giving extravaganza, with everyone sporting pj’s and my sister playing santa’s elf (voice and all.) It seems, as we grow older our most prized gifts often come in the form of books.  Imagine my delight to get Carol Alt’s The Raw 50 and Vegetarianism for Dummies!  Jeff has been sharing insights from Harpoon (into the heart of whaling)  and has been inspired by his recent introduction to Canada’s own preeminent environmentalist, David Suzuki through The David Suzuki Reader: A Lifetime of Ideas from a Leading Activist and Thinker.
• Jeff and I taking public transit to the mall and not freezing any extremities or getting lost.
• The opportunity to see a handful of friends who are so gracious as to shift their schedule to visit during the 5 days a year I happen to drop into town.
• And top of the list, the ability, once a year to just be Joey, my mom’s little girl, my sister’s eternal playmate and a northern girl through and through.

I have to admit, there were a couple of times in my “Joey “ week that I wondered, should I be sending out a holiday email…. OR inspiring people with past triumphs from the 60 days or MYL programs to get them going for the new year…. OR incessantly updating my facebook status ….. “Joelle Prochera is…. Eating a whole box of chocolate….  Trying on new fuzzy socks.” But I decided to live my life instead of writing about it, knowing that we would have many many occasions to connect as we enter into this exciting new year. 

While Joey’s back on the desk for today, I have booked Thursday and Friday off for a life-making retreat where I will be, tea in hand, dreaming, exploring and planning for the new year.  You can play too! In anticipation for this artificial break in time that signifies brand new beginnings, now is the time to ask yourself…

If It were December 2009 and I was looking back at the year, what would I like to have accomplished and what would I want to see in my life?  

This is an exciting question to ponder, as a whole year seems like such a long time.  Image what a person could cause in 12 full months! What will you be causing?

For those of you who have aspirations for great things in the year to come, I invite you to take the time to envision, to create and to plan.  It is one of the very best things you can do with your time and a wonderful way to launch your 2009 adventures!
 

Hugs to you and HAPPY NEW YEAR

From Joey
 

 Jumpstart Your 2009 with …

The Make Your Life Program™

January 14th – March 11th Experience the Magic of a Life Lived on Purpose

The Make Your Life Program™ is a one-of-a-kind tele-program which combines practical coaching skills, and professional support with creativity and play, allowing you to consciously create a life you love and experience the magic of a life lived on purpose.

READ MORE about the Make Your Life Program!

Hi Guys!

As you know, last Wednesday I sat down with Robin Swoboda on Fox 8 to discuss how to have a Holiday Filled with Comfort and Joy.  I know several of you wanted to see the latest TV adventures of Coach Joelle so I included the link.  

See Coach Joelle on That’s Life With Robin Swoboda

When you see the clip you will notice things at the studio were a little wild, with everything from dogs to escaped snakes and pet food in jello-molds, but all in all, I think it went pretty well.  If you don’t have time to watch, I have included my top tips for having a holiday filled with comfort and joy below.  Enjoy!

1) Make your  “love it” and “lose it” lists  – Make two lists, one listing all that you love about the holidays and the other listing the things you can do without.  Don’t let the holiday pass without making time for the stuff you love and wherever possible “just say no!” to the things you would rather not do.  If you prefer a compromise, I offer there is always a creative solution to making just about anything into an enjoyable experience.  So, if you are committed to having a holiday filled with comfort and joy be sure to stop and notice when you are stressing, pushing, resisting or resenting during your holiday and see if you cannot find an easier, more fun, enjoyable way to do whatever it is.

2) Plan what you can – whether it is a holiday meal, celebration or shopping, a little planning goes a long way.  Grab a cup of coffee, have a seat and give yourself the time to plan, and contemplate before you go rushing out to “do”.  A little thought goes a long way when it comes to having a blissful season.

3) Create new holiday traditions – Some of my favorite holiday memories have nothing to do with presents – the girls club holiday lights trolley party – the cousins Christmas eve hockey game – the  New Years gingerbread house smashing…. If you are one of those people who wants to add more joy and meaning to the season, there is no time like the present to create your holiday with intention by starting a new tradition.  Get the neighbors together and go caroling.  Have a dradle-off.  Invite everyone over to decorate gingerbread or go see the neighborhood reenactment of the nativity. 

4) Give meaningful gifts that don’t break that bank  - it doesn’t take a bunch of money to spread the cheer.  Making a gift with love can often be so much more meaningful than the latest shiny thing at the store( In the show segment I mention how my dad made us a set of blocks that played a memorable role in the projects and creativity of my youth.)  Never mind the fact that most of us do not really NEED all that much.  If you want to use your holiday dollars to really help someone in need you can go to www.heifer.org and give some chickens or a sheep to a family in a 3rd world country (now that’s way better than a gift card!)

5) Share the load and spread the holiday spirit – Community and sharing in the holiday responsibilities can make the usual holiday chores less of a burden and a lot more fun! Have a decorating or a gift wrapping party. Go shopping with a friend, or the next time someone asks you “can they bring anything”….say YES!

6) Stress and tension or comfort and joy – you get to choose –Whatever you go looking for is likely to show up.  If you enter the days ahead waiting to be stressed out, or annoyed, or tired, guess what?  One order of frustration coming right up!  Look for the comfort and joy, and you will find that too.

Enjoy your final days of preperation.  Light the lights and deck the halls.

Holiday Hugs,

Joelle

Hi guys,

Word on the street is that the moon is going to be something special tonight (This article tells us all about the science of it – Read more.)  Find out when the moon will be rising in your part of the world and schedule yourself to be watching the horizon.

Give yourself a moment to appreciate the little things, or in the case the GREAT BIG ONES!

Hugs on a Friday!

Joelle
 

Hi gang! 

I am excited to share that I will be back on Fox 8, chatting with Robin Swoboda about "how to fill your holiday with comfort and joy!"  
 

Whether you are stressing about how to create a meaningful Christmas while weathering difficult financial times, frustrated with the unending list of holiday to do’s, or just wanting to infuse more joy into your celebration, don’t miss this inspiring and informative discussion on how you can make the best of your holiday season.

That’s Life: Wednesday, Dec. 10th, 10:00 AM Fox 8

See you on the show!
 

Coach Joelle

It is the 11th consecutive weekday that I have attended the 6 am Cleveland Heights walking club which departs from the neighborhood Starbucks.  5 days of walking (a little over an hour each day) plus 2 days of Gyrotonic inside of one week and I am learning a little bit about the limits of my body. 

Between two days of bloody socks (time for some new shoes) and two Friday’s where I am physically exhausted and barely able to function, and I have pretty much figured out that I need to chill a little and work my way back up to what I have been doing. 

I have decided to keep the 6 am wakeup but walk only 3 days a week.  Our walking leader also gave me some advice on how to use less energy walking by relaxing my body a bit. This falls right into line with my masso-therapist’s lecture that “there is no such thing as speed walking” at least not if you want to have a healthy, aligned body.  Hm, live and learn.

It is interesting. This is reflective of the way many of us live our lives.  We can power through the situation or responsibilities or time crunch of the moment, thinking that if we can just get through it then everything will be ok. But we don’t just “get through it”, we use this proof of endurance to pile on more and more and then, one day, it all catches up. Symptoms manifest either mentally (breakdown) or physically (illness) and we find out that we were not handling it all as well as we thought.

Who ever thought walking would take such a physical toll on the body? Now I know.

What are you pushing through that just might catch up to you, oh invincible one?

A little food for thought.

Hugs on a Monday,

Joelle  
 
 

The Make Your Life Program™

January 14th – March 11th Experience the Magic of a Life Lived on Purpose

The Make Your Life Program™ is a one-of-a-kind tele-program which combines practical coaching skills, and professional support with creativity and play, allowing you to consciously create a life you love and experience the magic of a life lived on purpose.

READ MORE about the Make Your Life Program!

Good morning! 

Coach Joelle here to share another new food adventure from an aspiring vegetarian.

This past weekend, my family in town, we headed to one of downtown Cleveland’s delights, the Westside Market.  It has that ”market feel” with stalls of vegetables and fruit (we got 4 organic cucumbers for $1) stalls with handmade pasta, stalls with rich stinky blue cheeses and display after display of almost every kind of animal part you could imagine (you might know it as meat.)  To look at things like cow tongue, back fat and chicken livers it really made me stop for a minute and contemplate the nature of meat.

As some of you may know, I have recently taken the path of the ‘Conscientious Omnivore” eating a mostly vegetarian diet for ethical reasons and only buying or eating the every allusive “happy cow”.  The cow that has been grass fed, free range and has had the opportunity to live some semblance of a good life before he is cut into little bits for my enjoyment.  The more I read, and the more I learn about  modern food processing,  the more I question whether I can live with any animal’s life on my conscience, but that is not really what I wanted to talk about today.  As I was looking at all of the display cases, it caused me to ask….  

What is meat?

“Is there some part of a cow or a chicken that is called “meat”’ I wondered? We have the skin, that is called “skin” or “hide” and then there is fat – we all know what that is – and then I guess we have bones and muscle.  I was thinking, “There is no material in there (other than internal organs, veins etc.) that we would call the “meat” part of the animal” so I guess that means that “meat” is muscle (You can tell I grew up 600 kilometers from the nearest farm that I would just be having this revelation.) 

I looked at my own muscle under my skin and wondered how much “meat” you would get out of my bicep or thigh muscle.  I know, creepy.

When I brought this up with a friend of mine she said that she had once had the opportunity to observe an open- heart surgery.  She described how the heart stood, separated and clean inside the chest of the person on the operating table.  The heart was surrounded by the ribcage and it was that moment that she realized how familiar those ribs looked  – just like any side of ribs we would get on “all you can eat” night.  This realization made her very present to how, while we may be near the top of the food chain, we have all the same parts as the things we eat.

Prime rib – a part of the ribs, a standing rump roast is part of the cows “rump” that still has part of the leg attached.  Yum.

Ok, I am not trying to gross you out. It is just that I have never contemplated this.  Meat comes in little packages, without faces, or legs, and to realize that there is no mystery part of an animal called “meat”, that it is the muscles that moves and holds it’s body, is an uncomfortable feeling for me.

The other day I was so fortunate to have found a piece of grass-fed free-range mooo. As I sat down to eat I said a little prayer over him.  “Thank you cow for giving me part of your muscle to eat.”  It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

As I think more and learn more about the food I eat, I keep cutting back my options. For me, this does not feel like deprivation, but merely an opportunity to explore new food horizons.   The good thing is that the more I explore, the more people I meet who have lost their taste for meat years ago.  Why, just this weekend, my uncle’s girlfriend gave me a recipe that inspired me to make my first batch of quinoa and adzuki beans, I have a fresh appreciation for raw nuts, and I LOVE my spicy kale recipe.  Who knew I would ever become one of “those people.”

If there were anything I wanted to come of this sharing, it would be this, when you sit down to a meal, consider taking a moment to appreciate the life that was given.  Honor your cow, chicken, turkey or mollusk for their life, and their death.

With Love,

Joelle

Hi Gang!  I trust you had a lovely Thanksgiving.  I wanted to take a moment and share a highlight in my holiday weekend.

As the thanksgiving holiday approached I had a vision of what could be. Friends and family, a healthy dose of food and wine, great conversation and the ever important – ease in execution…. the perfect holiday party.

My vision for the perfect party experience was formed last year, when the day before thanksgiving, we started a tradition.  The tradition was basically this, my mom (from Canada)  and uncle Rob (from Ithaca New York)  get into town in time for the holiday, my husband comes home from work, I invite a friend over and what ensues is hours of riveting conversation, noshing and wine tasting followed by a late dinner at Nighttown (the local Irish pub). It is a modern take on the “conversation salons” of the past, and for me the experience of sharing time with the people I love and sharing the people I love with each other, has to be about the best feeling in the world.

This year, the tradition continued, only this time we added my uncle’s new girlfriend, my sister and a couple of new friends and as it turned out, everyone was having such a great time that we never even made it to Nighttown! The discussions were diverse and deep, ranging from the superior quality of the Stratocaster (guitar) to the best way to gain hope after a recent breakup, to cannibalism (I’m not kidding you) and the most beautiful thing is how everyone just meshed with everyone and I just got to sit back and watch and enjoy the glow. The conversation and wine-drinking was still going strong when I started cleaning up around midnight.  

Thinking about the joy and ease of it all, holding the vision but doing virtually no planning (my plan was basically food, chairs, people, wine)  I realize that I have come a long way from the first party I threw. 

The party was for a beloved fellow trombone-player and best friend who was moving out of town and I planned to have some people over to send him off in style! I had a very solid picture of how things were going to go and how the evening would unfold… and then life happened.  We were maybe 11 or 12 years old and I remember some people wanted to dance but I would have none of it! We had rented movies (really deep sad depressing movies “Mask” anyone) and we were going to watch them, even if nobody wanted to! Who knew a 12 year old would already be showing such control- freak tendencies. Yech!  The pain of that event stayed with me for a long time. I felt sad and a little embarrassed with how abrasive I was and how my plan got in the way of what could have been a perfectly good party.

Oh well. I guess somewhere along the way I learned that when it comes to parties and for that matter, pretty much everything, you tend to have a lot more fun letting things unfold naturally, trusting in the people, the process and the magic of life.

Hugs on a Monday!
 

Love, Joelle